Epiphany 3

Epiphany 3 – 21 January 2018
Jonah 3:1-5, 10
A lesson in Repentance

All three lessons for today deal with the issue of repentance. Each says individually and collectively “it’s time to repent!” In our Old Testament reading we have a three-fold act of repentance: Jonah, Nineveh and God. – Here we see true repentance - demonstrated by God, by others and self. What is repentance? It is more than mere sorrow over sin. It is a complete turn-around. It is a change of mind. It is the beginning of a new life.

Who needs to repent?

1. You do – like Nineveh – Vv. 1-2 “A message came to Jonah from the Lord a second time. He said, ‘Go to the great city of Nineveh. Announce to its people the message I give you. Repent!’” 

Remember the 5 “R’s” of repentance…

1. Responsibility – I own up to my sin. I name it. And call it my own.

2. Remorse – I am heart sorry.

3. Repair – I attempt to fix what we’ve broken. - Inasmuch as I are able. Some things can not so easily be repaired; a life, one’s good name, a reputation. These might not be able to be replaced. Or take a lifetime to rebuild.

4. Repeat not! – I don’t have permission. To return to visit!

Note: These four steps; leading to repentance, come from Dr. Laura Schlesinger, she’s an author and nationally syndicated radio talk-show host. She suggests; quite convincingly, that this is all we need to right a wrong. Yet, one component is missing. A 5th step is necessary; the final step, which separates Christians from the rest of the world; a step, which turns from following rules to establishing a connection with God Himself. The 5th step necessary: 

5. Reconciliation - through Christ alone! This we find in the message of the cross. St. Paul would remind us, “I determine to know nothing among you except for Jesus Christ and Him crucified.” (1 Corinthians 2:2) “In Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation.”(2 Corinthians 5:19)

Transition: Who needs to repent?

2. Others – like Nineveh – Vs. 5 The people of Nineveh believed God's warning. “The people of Nineveh believed God.”  They decided not to eat any food for a while. All of them put on black clothes. That's what everyone from the least important of them to the most important did. 

They don’t hesitate like Jonah did. They respond immediately. The people of Nineveh, like the sailors, who pleaded with Jonah, before throwing him overboard; they too repent. 

As Christians we are called to be in the world but not of it- that means we are called to be living in America, but not to live by the current American mindset especially if and when that mindset often will run contrary to God's Word. 

This coming week, we remember the 45th anniversary of the Supreme Court decision of Roe v Wade. Will abortion on demand be overturned? As I see it, not in the near future. But we as individuals can do our part in standing for life issues and in defense of those who cannot speak, for themselves. [Namely the unborn], And especially to support those who are advocates. [The hope clinic] For to be a witness we must start in our own community becoming advocates for the entire spectrum of life including those whose quality of life is in jeopardy or whose life is in danger because of neglect, or abuse. 

Daily we must be a people of prayer, asking the Lord to spare us from peril, praying for Him to direct us, to give order to our days. And it starts with our attitude.

The problem with Jonah is the fact that He knew the character of God. He knew God would relent. That if Nineveh were to repent God would forgive. And that upset him! So he went the opposite direction. And then, when Nineveh did repent, he became angry with God. Hating His mercy, His grace, His forgiveness. 

Who wants God to change God’s mind, especially when it means not destroying those whom we despise? Jonah becomes angry after preaching because, as he says, “O LORD! Is not this what I said while I was still in my own country? That is why I fled to Tarshish at the beginning; for I knew that you are a gracious God and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love, and great to relent from punishing?” (Jonah 4:2). 

And Jonah sees God changing God’s mind as “greatly” displeasing. But changing God’s mind when people or nations repent also is a part of the Divine character. (See Jeremiah 18:7-8 “If at any time I declare concerning a nation or a kingdom, that I will pluck up and break down and destroy it,  and if that nation, concerning which I have spoken, turns from its evil, I will relent of the disaster that I intended to do to it.”). 

This is why God has to call Jonah “a second time.” Because when he ran, Jonah did not want to see Nineveh repent. He didn’t want that abounding grace to extend beyond his people, even though he KNEW, he just KNEW, it would happen. And the people do repent.

Transition: Who needs to repent?

3. God – Yes, God repented - as He changed His mind from judgment to mercy. - Vs. 10 “God saw what they did. They stopped doing what was evil. So he took pity on them. He didn't destroy them as he had said he would.” This is the heart of the Gospel. God didn’t destroy the city of Nineveh. He had pity on them. He extended mercy. 

God has had compassion. He has taken pity on you. Christ bore your sins in His own body that you might die to sin and now live unto righteousness. He has taken your sin and in His suffering death and passion He gives you a new life.

Each of us stands in the need of mercy. Jonah was given that second chance. In this we see we have a gracious God. As God gives you yet another chance to do better, it is incumbent upon you give others when they sin against you another chance to make good and to do better.

Words-1,075
Passive Sentences –4%
Readability –75%
Reading Level –5.4
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